Long ago, Patrick Buchanan received a bull of excommunication from the neocons as an Unpatriotic Conservative for the grave sin of refusing to back their plans for salvation through democratic capitalist militarism. They snookered the Right into buying the notion that their Machiavellian war worship was patriotism and denounced critics as disloyal.

Fundamental rule of thumb: don’t snort the Kristol Meth. Whatever that false prophet advises, do the opposite. Wherever he points, run the opposite direction. He has an absolute charism for sheer wrongness.